Analysis
Find out more Public Health England’s guidance on identifying and managing patients with the Ebola virus in acute trusts is available at tinyurl.com/ooy35c5 EMERGENCY NURSE
Volunteer workers in Gaza report essential supplies are running out Press Association
For example, they work in pairs for no longer than six weeks at a time to ensure they do not become too tired. In addition, the MSF spokesperson explains: ‘There is sufficient space between patients, clear separation between highrisk and low-risk areas, sufficient lighting, secure waste management, and regular cleaning and disinfection of the wards. ‘We have administrative controls, which restrict the number of people inside the high-risk areas who could be exposed. Only staff that need to go in are allowed to and we restrict how long they can stay inside.’ Emergency nurses deployed to the affected areas would provide ‘supportive therapy’, a standard treatment for Ebola that involves monitoring patients’ blood pressure, hydration, nutrition and oxygen levels, and treating them for subsidiary infections. ‘Supportive treatment can help a patient survive longer, and the extra time may be just what the patient’s own immune system needs to start fighting the virus,’ the spokesperson says. ■■ As Emergency Nurse went to press, the first British person confirmed to have contracted Ebola during the current outbreak, volunteer nurse William Pooley, was being cared for in the UK. He had been flown to RAF Northolt last month and taken under police escort to the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust to begin treatment in a specialist isolation unit for patients with highly infectious diseases. Mr Pooley worked as a volunteer providing palliative care at the Shepherd’s Hospice, in Allen Town, a suburb of Freetown, Sierra Leone, between March and July. He then relocated to the Ebola treatment ward of Kenema Government Hospital, 300 km east of the capital, after hearing reports that patients were being abandoned when healthcare workers died from the virus.
Lack of water, sanitation and basic medical services in the area may lead to a public health disaster, says Erin Dean UK HEALTHCARE staff who have been helping people caught up in the conflict in Gaza have described the conditions they found there. A 14-strong NHS team of emergency care, orthopaedic trauma and plastic surgery nurses, paramedics, surgeons and anaesthetists left for the region last month. The team was based with UK charity Medical Aid for Palestinians at the Al Mokassed Hospital, East Jerusalem, where many patients from Gaza have been transferred. According to the Department of Health, the team’s role was to co-ordinate with local health authorities, charities, the United Nations (UN) and Red Crescent to assist with the humanitarian effort. Meanwhile, five members of the team, four surgeons and a public health specialist, travelled to Gaza to assess conditions. According to UN figures, almost 2,000 Palestinians and 66 Israelis have been killed since violence between Gaza and Israel began to escalate in early July. Many more have been injured, and about one quarter of the 1.8 million residents of Gaza have been displaced from their homes. Medical Aid for Palestinians says that health services in Gaza are under strain and there are shortages of disposable medical
equipment, such as sutures and materials for bone injuries. The charity adds that about 10% of the 10,000 people injured last month required reconstructive surgery, but that none has had to be taken to the UK, and recommends that surgeons continue to visit Gaza every month to help with patients with complex needs. It also warns that a lack of clean water and sanitation poses a significant public health risk. Destruction Orthopaedic trauma surgeon John Beavis, from Kent, has carried out complex surgery in Gaza and recently visited the area. He says that hospitals were running low on essential supplies, which staff could restock only during periods of ceasefire, and that they often had to rely on their own generators for electricity. ‘On this trip, there was a lot more destruction of buildings and a lot of patients coming through,’ Mr Beavis says. ‘High quality work was being done by medical and nursing staff, who were dealing with a lot of complex wounds. But there is a problem when a lot of patients come in, and the staff are exhausted and know their families are at risk outside. ‘There is a need for basic medical services and continuity of care. There are people with cancer and type 2 diabetes, and children who are getting diarrhoea. These are not just surgical issues, but public health ones.’ Last month, the British Red Cross said that, since hostilities escalated, two Palestinian Red Cross Society volunteers have been killed and more than 46 emergency workers injured. A total of 27 ambulances displaying the Red Crescent have been damaged or destroyed in attacks that have been condemned by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Erin Dean is a freelance journalist
Find out more Information on volunteering for healthcare work overseas is available from the UK International Emergency Trauma Register, at uk-med.humanities.manchester.ac.uk September 2014 | Volume 22 | Number 5 11
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Find out more Public Health England’s guidance on identifying and managing patients with the Ebola virus in acute trusts is available at tinyurl.com/ooy35c5 EMERGENCY NURSE
Volunteer workers in Gaza report essential supplies are running out Press Association
For example, they work in pairs for no longer than six weeks at a time to ensure they do not become too tired. In addition, the MSF spokesperson explains: ‘There is sufficient space between patients, clear separation between highrisk and low-risk areas, sufficient lighting, secure waste management, and regular cleaning and disinfection of the wards. ‘We have administrative controls, which restrict the number of people inside the high-risk areas who could be exposed. Only staff that need to go in are allowed to and we restrict how long they can stay inside.’ Emergency nurses deployed to the affected areas would provide ‘supportive therapy’, a standard treatment for Ebola that involves monitoring patients’ blood pressure, hydration, nutrition and oxygen levels, and treating them for subsidiary infections. ‘Supportive treatment can help a patient survive longer, and the extra time may be just what the patient’s own immune system needs to start fighting the virus,’ the spokesperson says. ■■ As Emergency Nurse went to press, the first British person confirmed to have contracted Ebola during the current outbreak, volunteer nurse William Pooley, was being cared for in the UK. He had been flown to RAF Northolt last month and taken under police escort to the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust to begin treatment in a specialist isolation unit for patients with highly infectious diseases. Mr Pooley worked as a volunteer providing palliative care at the Shepherd’s Hospice, in Allen Town, a suburb of Freetown, Sierra Leone, between March and July. He then relocated to the Ebola treatment ward of Kenema Government Hospital, 300 km east of the capital, after hearing reports that patients were being abandoned when healthcare workers died from the virus.
Lack of water, sanitation and basic medical services in the area may lead to a public health disaster, says Erin Dean UK HEALTHCARE staff who have been helping people caught up in the conflict in Gaza have described the conditions they found there. A 14-strong NHS team of emergency care, orthopaedic trauma and plastic surgery nurses, paramedics, surgeons and anaesthetists left for the region last month. The team was based with UK charity Medical Aid for Palestinians at the Al Mokassed Hospital, East Jerusalem, where many patients from Gaza have been transferred. According to the Department of Health, the team’s role was to co-ordinate with local health authorities, charities, the United Nations (UN) and Red Crescent to assist with the humanitarian effort. Meanwhile, five members of the team, four surgeons and a public health specialist, travelled to Gaza to assess conditions. According to UN figures, almost 2,000 Palestinians and 66 Israelis have been killed since violence between Gaza and Israel began to escalate in early July. Many more have been injured, and about one quarter of the 1.8 million residents of Gaza have been displaced from their homes. Medical Aid for Palestinians says that health services in Gaza are under strain and there are shortages of disposable medical
equipment, such as sutures and materials for bone injuries. The charity adds that about 10% of the 10,000 people injured last month required reconstructive surgery, but that none has had to be taken to the UK, and recommends that surgeons continue to visit Gaza every month to help with patients with complex needs. It also warns that a lack of clean water and sanitation poses a significant public health risk. Destruction Orthopaedic trauma surgeon John Beavis, from Kent, has carried out complex surgery in Gaza and recently visited the area. He says that hospitals were running low on essential supplies, which staff could restock only during periods of ceasefire, and that they often had to rely on their own generators for electricity. ‘On this trip, there was a lot more destruction of buildings and a lot of patients coming through,’ Mr Beavis says. ‘High quality work was being done by medical and nursing staff, who were dealing with a lot of complex wounds. But there is a problem when a lot of patients come in, and the staff are exhausted and know their families are at risk outside. ‘There is a need for basic medical services and continuity of care. There are people with cancer and type 2 diabetes, and children who are getting diarrhoea. These are not just surgical issues, but public health ones.’ Last month, the British Red Cross said that, since hostilities escalated, two Palestinian Red Cross Society volunteers have been killed and more than 46 emergency workers injured. A total of 27 ambulances displaying the Red Crescent have been damaged or destroyed in attacks that have been condemned by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Erin Dean is a freelance journalist
Find out more Information on volunteering for healthcare work overseas is available from the UK International Emergency Trauma Register, at uk-med.humanities.manchester.ac.uk September 2014 | Volume 22 | Number 5 11
Downloaded from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 15, 2015. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
